Saturday, September 20, 2008

PAC-10, SEC, and actually playing away games in college football

Last week the pac-10 had what appeared to be a miserable weekend, going 0-4 against the MWC, and losing some other key games. But, at least they tried. Looking at the season so far:

this week:
1-0 bigsky*
1-1 WAC
0-1 SEC

week3
0-1 ACC
0-4 MWC
0-1 BIG12
1-0 WAC
2-0 BIG10

week2
0-1 MWC
0-1 BIG10
1-0 MAC
1-0 WAC

week1
1-0 ACC
1-0 BIG10
1-0 WAC
0-1 BIG12
1-0 Bigsky*
1-0 SEC




Compared to the SEC:
Week1
1-0 MAC
2-0 ACC
2-0 Southern*
1-1 WAC
1-0 CUSA
1-0 Sun Belt
1-0 Gateway*
1-0 Big East
0-1 Pac 10

Week2
2-0 CUSA
1-1 ACC
1-0 MAC
1-0 Mideast*
1-0 Sunbelt
1-0 Southland*

Week3
2-0 CUSA
2-0 Sunbelt
1-0 Southern*
1-0 Independents

Week 4
0-1 ACC
1-0 Southern*
PAC10

Now lets get tricky, and put some assumptions:
1) All 1A(FBS) teams will beat 1AA (FCS) teams
2) All home teams will win
If we just count road wins and home losses, we get something different:
SEC:
1) 1-0 MAC
1-0 ACC (nuetral)
1-0 Big east
2) * Sunbelt (La Monroe technical home team in game played in 'neutral' arkansas)
3) none
4) 1-0 Pac10
A total of 4 wins in 4 weeks
4-0

PAC10:
1) 1-0 ACC
0-1 Big12 [home game for WSU on other side of state]
2) 0-1 MWC
3) 1-0 Big10
0-1 Big12
0-1 MWC
4) 0-1 WAC
0-1 SEC
2 wins and 6 losses in 4 weeks
2-6

And the MWC
1) 1-0 BIG10
0-1 Great west*
2) 1-0 PAC-10
0-1 Big12
3) 1-0 CUSA
1-0 WAC
1-0 PAC10
4) 1-0 CUSA
6 wins and 2 losses in 4 weeks
6-2

And the WAC:
2) 0-1 Big12
3) 0-1 MAC
0-1 MWC
0-1 Big10
4) 1-0 Pac10
1-0 CUSA
1-0 MAC
3-4
And some of the other 'big 6'
BIG 10:
1) 0-1 MWC
2) 1-0 ACC
1-0 MAC
3) 1-0 Bigeast
0-1 Pac10
1-0 WAC
4) 0-1 MAC
4-3

Bigeast
1) 0-1 SEC
0-1 WAC
2) 1-0 CUSA
1-1 MAC
3) 0-1 Big10
0-1 ACC
4) 1-0 Sunbelt
3-5

ACC:
1) 1-0 big12
0-1 pac10
1-0 MAC
0-1 SEC
2) 0-1 big10
3) 1-0 bigeast
4) 1-0 big12
4-3

Big12
1) 0-1 ACC
1-0 Pac10
0-1 sunbelt
2) 1-0 MWC
1-0 CUSA
2-0 WAC
3) 1-0 Pac10
4) 0-1 ACC
*one late game vs MWC
5-3

And others
CUSA
1) [East Carolina was home team in Charlotte]
2) 0-1 Bigeast
1-0 Sunbelt
0-1 Big12
3) 0-1 MWC
1-0 Sunbelt
4) 0-1 MWC
0-1 WAC
2-5

MAC
1) 0-1 SEC
1-0 Indep
1-0 Bigeast
0-1 ACC
2) 1-1 Bigeast
0-1 big10
3) 1-0 WAC
4) 1-0 Indep
1-0 Big10
0-1 WAC
6-5

Sunbelt
1) 1-0 Big12
2) 0-1 CUSA
plus * nuetral LA-monroe arkansas game in arkansas
3) 0-1 CUSA
4) 0-1 Bigeast
1-3

If we rank conferences by total road victories over other conferences:
MWC 6-2
Big12 6-3
MAC 6-5
BIG10 4-3
ACC 4-3
SEC 3-0
WAC 3-4
BIGEAST 3-5
CUSA 2-5
PAC10 2-6
SUNBELT 1-3

So, ok, maybe the PAC-10 really is that bad, ranking between CUSA and sunbelt. But, notice that the SEC rarely leaves the comforts of home. The Louisville/Kentucky, South Carolina/Clemson and Florida/Florida State rivalries give at least one road trip per year (this year it is Kentucky and Carolina on the road.) Other than that, only Vanderbilt (at Miami of Ohio) and Georgia (at Arizona State) have played away games so far this year [with Clemson and Alabama playing at a nuetral site]. During the rest of the season only 2 non-conference away games remain, with Vanderbilt and Auburn hitting the road (along with the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry). Pac-10 also has two more road games, leaving the possibility that they could break out even with this metric. The mountain west has 5 more, big 12 has one more, and the MAC about 6 or 7. Chances are fairly high that MWC will get a couple additional road wins, thus besting the SEC. Even the Pac10 could potentially break even.

The SEC argues that their conference is the toughest. Yet, the non-conference schedule is filled with home games, with many from the sun belt and I-AA southern conference. Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are the only team with two non-conference road games. (And they also happen to be the two teams historically at the bottom of the standings.) Many of the teams (like LSU) don't even go on the road for nonconference games. At least Georgia traveled to Arizona State, and Tennessee to UCLA.

The Pac-10, at least is more willing to hit the road, with games this season at bowl teams Penn State, BYU, Utah, TCU, Virginia, New Mexico, Purdue, Maryland and Hawaii. The 2009 road schedule will include games at Boise State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgia and Tennessee.
The SEC this year has road games schedule against bowl teams UCLA, Arizona State, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Clemson. Despite having 2 more members than the Pac-10, they've scheduled half the number of road games against teams that went to bowls last year.

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